Charging forward and other news

Background. In 2010, an Administrative Law Judge at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) held that a hospital that subcontracted to provide medical services to TRICARE beneficiaries was a federal subcontractor subject to the affirmative action laws.

In December, 2010, OFCCP issued Directive 293, taking the position that “contractor (or subcontractor) obligations mandated by OFCCP programs cannot be altered, limited, or defeated by the inclusion in the contract of provisions contrary to such obligations.” Contrary to what was widely believed, OFCCP stated its position that certain arrangements with TRICARE constituted government contracts that created OFCCP jurisdiction. The Directive then provided guidance for assessing when healthcare providers and insurers were federal contractors or subcontractors. (Click HERE for article)

The bill prohibits contractors from charging more than $690,000 for the salary of any of its employees. That incremental pay cap, had previously only applied to a contractor’s top five executives.

The effect of this provision is contractors will have to “cover a larger percentage of their employee salaries,” said Trey Hodgkins, senior vice president for national security and procurement policy at TechAmerica.

The compensation cap could actually end up costing the government more money. “Companies are now having to look at either absorbing these additional expenses themselves or passing those costs along onto whoever is buying those goods and services,” Hodgkins said.

“If there’s anything found to be counterfeit in any supply chain of any electronic device, whether it’s a weapons system, an aircraft, an IT system, a network, all of those electronics are covered under this new provision,” he said. (Click HERE for article)

Defense contractor at Fort Lee sentenced for allowing inmate trysts
Frank Green – (Richmond Times-Dispatch) – RICHMOND, Va. – January 5, 2012 – A Department of Defense contractor was sentenced to four years probation and six months home confinement Thursday for allowing trysts between prostitutes and federal inmates he was supervising at Fort Lee.